Ladies' preliminary round

Could someone explain me why risa Shoji has to do the preliminary round? She has competed junior all year long and won a few medals. Also why doesn't courtney hicks have to do it? She hasn't competed internationally yet?! I don't understand haha :P

It's sort of like what the Japanese men have to do, last year, Kozuka and Takahashi were enough to get 3 spots, but they didn't actually have all 3 of their men in that equation (Oda didn't even make the LP), so now Kozuka, unfortunately, has to skate in the QR. Last year for Jr. Ladies (and men), there was only one person who got the 3 spots, Kanako Murakami, so the other two who weren't in the equation (two lowest ranked) have to skate in QR.

I think the reason for these weird rules is that skaters cannot earn spots for next year as individuals; only countries can earn spots.

So if your country did not earn enough spots last year, then you are out of luck no matter how good you are this year.

And what makes these rules seem weirder at the Junior level is the relatively low residence time in the junior ranks (i.e. most skaters only spend around 2 years as a junior).

e.g. Japan has one direct entry due to Kanako Murakami's placement last year, which went to Yuki Nishino this year due to her higher world rank over Risa Shoji, which she managed to pull off because the latter only has 1 season's worth of points in her world rank despite her having consistently placed well this season. I really think that this is a case in point that, for juniors at least, they should base it on seasons rankings (i.e. 1 season) rather than overall rankings (i.e. the past 3), given how many of the top juniors skaters in any given season haven't been internationally competitive for very long.